


Halloween: Louis' story

by ColThKnighthold



Series: Ghost!Louis verse [1]
Category: Harry Styles (Musician), Liam Payne (Musician), Louis Tomlinson (Musician), Niall Horan (Musician), One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, And angst, Blood, Drugs, Gen, Ghost!Eleanor, Halloween, Ouija Board, Suicide, Underage Drinking, Violence, Zayn Malik Has a Crush, demon worshipping, ghost!louis, uni friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-04 12:42:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21197840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColThKnighthold/pseuds/ColThKnighthold
Summary: It’s 2023 and Louis has been a ghost for five years. This is the story of how he became one.It's not a pretty story. You have been warned.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my attempt at a halloween story. Read at your own risk.

Prologue: October 2023

Louis sits on a bench in the Doncaster cemetery (scruffy beard and jeans) and Eleanor (slim with long brown hair, summer dress and high heels, a former model). 

It’s misty and probably cold, but he can't feel that anymore. He can still see and smell, though, not so good as he used to. The leaves are turning brown, he thinks it must be September or October. Not that he is keeping up with days or months, but he sees the changes in the seasons. Time passes differently when you’re dead. There are huge holes in his memory, of probably weeks, maybe even months. 

It had been a lonely existence before he met Eleanor, here at the cemetery. He can’t believe it has already been so long. It seemed only yesterday he was at his own funeral, seeing his dad, Jack, sister Meghan and grandparents and friends cry. He never knew his mother she left the family shortly after he was born. Meghan arrived four years later, the relationship with her mother also didn't last. And then when they visited him at his grave and told them what was happening in their lives and how much they missed him. His friends never came though. Maybe once or twice in the beginning. But not lately, nor does his family. They must have moved on. And Louis became bored. For a year, he had lived here at the Doncaster cemetery. He had seen the people who came to mourn and visit their dead loved ones or relatives. He needed a change of scenery. He wanted to leave the dreary place. Half believing he couldn’t do that some unseen force would keep him in. But nothing happened when he left the gates. And so he kept walking. He saw people going about their business, shopping, walking their pets, meeting friends and waiting for the bus. 

But nobody saw him. It felt really strange. He read newspapers (over people's shoulders). He rode the bus with nobody seeing him. He even went as far as going to his childhood home where his father still lived and snooped around for an address for his sister Meghan, as she like him had moved out. Turned out she lived just down the road. She had a new boyfriend and seemed happy at least she moved on. He was glad. Louis wanted to touch her so badly but when he went straight through her. It shook him so badly that he ran all the way back to the cemetery. 

For days after the incident he had been sitting on his grave stone or walking aimlessly round the grounds.

Then he went to see his former friends, the band was touring and they seemed quite happy. Harry was still quiet and sad. But on the whole they seem to be moving on. Louis didn’t know what to make of that, on the hand he was glad but on the other …. 

Then on the anniversary of this death he met Eleanor, he saw her sitting on what was probably her own tombstone. In her pretty dress and her long hair waving in the wind. 

‘Louis, how did you end up here?’  
‘It's quite a long story.’  
‘I am in no rush.’


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One: London, 31st October 2018.

The five members of the punk/rockband One Direction, Louis, Harry, Zayn, Liam and Niall are having a quiet night after 6 months of touring. It's Halloween and Harry has forgone his usual extravagant dress-up party for a small remembrance dinner for just the five of them. As he knows how much their lead singer hates this feast. It's Louis first time showing up in all the years since meeting each other in university, eight years ago.

For thirteen years Louis didn't celebrated Halloween. As a child he loved it, but ever since "the incident" as he called it, he stopped. But Harry one of his best friends persuaded him to come to his party this year. 

Right now they are standing by the table littered with photographs, heirlooms, and other mementos of deceased family, friends, and companion creatures, along with several votive candles. Harry had asked him and the others to ask family members stories about their ancestors and make a sort of altar for them with mementos, photos and such. Harry who is currently lighting the candles in their memory and calling out their names and express well wishes. 

After spending time with the boys talking about their deceased family members; Zayn's and Liam's grandfathers and the grandmothers of Harry and Niall and various other ancestors. 

Louis knows he isn’t taking it seriously. He doesn’t want to dwell on the past. He has been complaining and moaning the whole day. Even the Remembrance cookies and “Bread for the dead” Harry had made for them for tea had not been to his taste. And the Cemetery was too cold too windy and plain horribly according to him. He never should have accepted the invitation, he has been telling them at almost every chance he got. But Harry has always been his best friend and he has never been able to say no to him. 

During the dinner Harry invites their deceased loved ones and ancestors to dine with them. He sets an extra place for them and adds an offering of each dish and some of the wine.   
They eat their dinner in silence. Something Louis finds very hard but somehow has manages.

After the feast Harry places the contents of the extra plate and cup for the Dead outdoors in the garden as an offering for the Dead. When they are in the house again, Louis can’t take it anymore, but just as he is about to leave, Zayn says something that alters the course of the party.

‘So, I brought something that will bring a little more fun for this feast.’ Zayn pulls out a Ouija board (a wooden affair with numbers, the alphabet, and the words yes, no, hello, and goodbye on it) and all their eyes widen.   
‘Is that what I think it is, Z.?’ Harry is beyond shocked and chuckles nervously.  
‘Yeah, it’s an Ouija board. It’s made so you can contact spirits and what not.’ Zayn opens the box and sets the board on the floor in the middle of the room.  
‘Do you really think this a good idea mate? I have seen some people use these and it turns out bad.’ Niall asks a little worried and Zayn rolls his eyes.  
‘Oh stop being twats. You act like this is actually going to work people just play with it for shits and giggles.’ Zayn says while setting up the board.  
‘If I end up getting haunted by some ghost I am going to kick your arse, Z.’ Liam says in the most serious tone and staring right at Zayn and he rolls his eyes once more.  
‘Come on gather around the board, you babies.’ They all gather around the board as close as possible to the point where most of their knees are touching. They all stare at Zayn waiting for further instructions.  
‘Now we all have to put our hand on this piece.’ He points to the planchette. ‘Then we pretty much, just ask questions and see if we get any responses. It could end up being a total buzz kill, really fun, or give us nightmares for weeks. But it will probably end up being the first one. Now come on, hands on the planchette everybody.’ Which they then all do, waiting for somebody to ask the first question.  
‘Is there anybody here with us right now?’ Zayn asks and they all just stare at each other not saying a single word.  
‘Jesus, Styles your house is as bor-,’ but Louis falls silent as the piece starts to move and they all look at each other with different facial expressions. Louis feels he is about to shit bricks, and looks at his friends. Niall looks terrified, Liam rolls his eyes not believing that it is really moving and Harry is over his initial shock and now looks a little impressed. Zayn smirks, as he obviously was trying to impress Harry, Louis knows, has known for years that Zayn has a crush on Harry. He just wishes Zayn would grow a pair and ask Harry out on a date. The panchette ends up sliding to the word yes.  
‘Okay, which of you did it? Come on just fess up. I have to admit you guys almost made me shit my pants.’ They all look at Louis with blank expressions on their faces.  
‘I didn’t move it!’ Niall says pointing at himself.  
‘I thought you moved it,’ Liam says pointing at Louis.  
‘Well I didn’t do it,’ Harry says turning his head sideways looking at all of them.  
Zayn also shakes his head. ‘Wasn’t me mate!’

‘Well fuck! Let’s start asking more questions then. Are you a girl?’ Zayn asks once it becomes clear no one else is. The planchette starts to slowly move again and lands on the word no this time.  
‘Okay, guys this is just getting freaky. We should stop,’ Niall says taking his hand off the planchette.  
‘Oh, come on Niall. Stop being a baby and put your hand back on the piece. This is actually pretty fun.’ Zayn says.  
Niall rolls his eyes and puts his hand back onto the planchette.  
‘What’s your name?’ Harry asks now, getting into it and the planchette slowly but surely starts to make its way around the board going over one letter a time.

L-o-g-a-n. 

Louis knows a Logan. But that was a long time ago. In High School, year eight, the boy had disappeared. He knows there had been a search party, but Logan was never found. It could be him, but Louis needs to know for sure. Because he never told anybody about Logan. He always told himself that Logan ran away because of his home situation, for he had a drunkard with loose hands for a father.  
And he doesn’t think Zayn knew about his secret bringing the board so they could stage such an elaborate prank to get him to speak about it. He even feels bad about thinking that. So he needs to know a surname. ‘Logan who?’ Louis asks then in a tiny voice.  
With their fingers on the piece again it begins to spell again. And it isn’t something common like Smith or Jones.   
No it is C-U-M-M-I-N-S, and Louis can’t help but freak out. ‘No, No way, You’re joking right. Oh, come guys don’t do this.’  
They all stare at him blankly.   
‘We don’t know any Logan Cummins. Never heard that name either, honestly,’ says Liam with his big puppy dog eyes. 

Louis thinks about Logan’s parents. It makes him sick and it also brings back the totally unwanted memories of that very night.   
Why? He can’t help! He tried and failed. He knows that he should have done things differently. But it will not bring Logan or Finlay back for that matter as he also went missing that night. Louis knows he is a loser. He should have told his parents about what he saw that night, but he didn’t. He still thinks his troubles communicating have something to do with his stepmother leaving, after “the incident”. He didn’t want to have anything to do with anybody afterwards, too scared they might come to know his secret. Except his bandmates of The Roque, as Stan and Olli where with Logan, Finlay and him that night. Until he met Harry, Liam, Niall and Zayn in Uni, who didn’t push him but just let him be his quiet self. 

He still remembers that choir singing, a strange and haunting song, in a strange language, which he now knows, was probably Latin. It’s one of the few things he remembered clearly. And seeing that rather ugly black marble statue of some kind ugly figure with wings. The rest of the night are snippets of drug induced images which for the most part don’t seem to add up to anything. They don’t seem real. They seem to involve some kind of satanic rituals by people dressed in black, silk robes, with horns and masks. He knows he was probably raped but he can’t for the life of him tell by who or how many times it was. And there was a cemetery involved at some point as well and as woman. 

He has been angry, sad and a host of other things about that. It has broken something inside him. It made him scared of having sex, but he still has it anyway. Even if he has to throw up afterwards. And sometimes he is haunted by the man who offered him that drink. He drugged him but did he also rape him? He doesn’t know and he probably never will.   
He has to pull himself together. It’s just not possible. He didn’t even believe in ghosts. But after that night he sure feels haunted. He has to know for sure and the only way to do that is to ask questions, questions only Logan knows the answers to.

He had a lot of nightmares and even night terrors over the years, where he wakes up in a cold sweat unable to move for several moments. Especially after it became clear that Logan and Finlay were missing. He thinks they might be buried at the same cemetery he was in. But he doesn’t want to go back there.

So he asks: ‘What costumes did we wear that night?’ Z-o-m-b-i-e-s  
‘What school did we went to?’ H-a-l-l C-r-o-s-s.  
‘What mischief did they get up to?’ A-l-l s-o-r-t-s  
‘Where did we meet the first time?’ F-i-r-s-t d-a-y o-f a-s-s-e-m-b-l-y.

The answers leave no room for doubt. He must be talking to Logan (or his spirit). 

But it is the latest message that really scare Louis as it spells:

Y-O-U-R T-I-M-E H-E-R-E I-S U-P, L-O-U.

Especially when Louis looks up and sees Logan standing in the room, in the black silk robe he last saw him in. He is pale and almost translucent, but it is him alright. Without realizing he is doing it, Louis is standing up and walking towards the boy. He shivers from the cold. He reaches out to him and suddenly he is transported back in time.


	3. Chapter two: Doncaster, 31th October 2005

Louis and his four friends, Stan, Oli, Finlay and Logan are going trick-or-treating (they are really too old but they like sweets, alright). So Louis and his mates are dress up like zombies, clothes torn and their faces painted white with blood. 

They have been walking for a while when they hear a choir chanting in a strange language coming from a house at the end of the street they are walking on. They know that house, all of their parents have warned them about the strange cult that worships there. The house is on the edge of wooded area and a little bit out of the way, but the lights are all on. Curiosity gets the better of them.

So they through the gate and up the path leading up to house. How many people did the same thing before them? 

A woman in very little clothing and made-up like a sexy vampire with fake blood dripping from her mouth is standing outside by a bowl of sweets.  
‘Would you boys take a look inside?,’ she asks while opening the large wooden behind her.

‘No, thanks,’ he hears Stan and Oli say and before running off. 

But Finley and Logan both say yes and so he goes with them. Mostly because he doesn’t want them to know how scared he is. 

The hall is covered in cobwebs and bats (which look very real). On both sides of the hall is a black staircase. 

A large statue of an ugly black marble winged figure is standing in the middle of it. It looks like it’s alive in the flickering candlelight. He wants to say something to his friends about this, but when he looks around they are already creeping up the stairs. He wants to go after them but when he does his body collides with the body of a man dressed in a long black robe.  
‘What are you doing here? Please stay and have a drink with me. You look like you could use one.’

The man leads him off to a door on the left. It looks like an old-fashioned drawing-room. Victorian and ancient, the same cobwebs and dust and al the furniture has been draped in white sheets. There are also a lot of bats and spiders. Strangely there is a large fire roaring in the fire place, which has a painting depicting the same figure as the statue in the hall. The man removes one of the sheets off a couch, a burgundy Chesterfield affair and orders Louis to sit on it, while he makes him a drink. ‘Beautiful painting isn’t it. It’s of the demon we worship here. The son of the devil himself. Salpsan. If we follow him, he will give us knowledge and makes us rich. To ensure his goodwill for the coming years we will sacrifice three humans this night as it is a full moon.’

Louis doesn’t know if the man is pulling his leg, or if it is a large hoax for Halloween or if he really believes in what he says. Anyway the man who now is staring straight at him is giving him the creeps. He wants to leave. But then the man is coming up to him with a large goblet filled with a red substance. Could be wine, could be blood or just cranberry or grape juice.

‘Please just have a drink. You will like it and it will relax you.’

The drink is sweet and probably contains alcohol, but he still drinks it. He thinks of his step-mother who will be mad when she finds out he has been drinking.

Suddenly he feels very sleepy and closes his eyes. 

When wakes up he is in the same room as the choir; men in long black silk hooded robes and dark wolf masks. It is a large room that looks like a church. But they don’t worship God in here. The upside down pentagrams painted on the black wall are prove of that. But also the skulls human and goat littered around the room make him feel more ill at ease. The only light comes from large candles scattered around the room and the moon shining through the large gothic stain glass windows. He is laying off to the side and is tied up with ropes, much like a parcel. He is guarded by two of those people in long black robes. 

Then he sees Logan laying on the altar in the front of the room. But he can't see Finlay any-where. Logan is no longer wearing his own clothes, but the same silk black robe as the men around them, his eyes are closed, his make-up is gone and his feet are bare. Just like himself, he realises with a start. And suddenly he feels naked under his own silk robe and his whole body hurts, especially his back. What happened? Who took his clothes off? Where are they? He shudders when he thinks of being naked in front of strangers and they possibly touching them. 

Why is he being shown this? Is he next? And where is Finlay?

Logan is not moving at all, he doesn’t even appears to be breathing. One of the hooded men has a knife, he sees it shimmering in the lights when shows it to everybody. Strangely he can't stop watching as the robed man makes an incision in the throat of his friend and drains him of his blood with some kind of pomp. He passed out again after that. Not really believing wat he had seen. It must have been some kind of trick.

It’s dark, suffocating, he is in a coffin and there is something on top of it, preventing him from lifting the lid off it. There is something attached to his finger, a piece of string. He pulls on it, and faintly he can make out sounds of a bell. He panics and most likely passes out again. 

The next thing he sees and feels is light and the wind. At first he thinks he is dead and that is the light of heaven. But it’s only the bleak sunshine of the first morning of November. And there she is again the woman who opened the door for them yesterday. He recognizes her clothes. She looks as if she has been in some kind of fight. Her make-up is smudged. Her hair is wild. Her stockings are torn and she has no shoes on. 

She helps him out of the coffin, he is in a cemetery judging by the surrounding headstones. She warps him in a blanket and tells him to run and not to tell anybody about anything what happened the previous night. 

He knows he should go to the hospital or the police or both, but he doesn’t he goes to a friend instead. And tells him some story about a girl and her mad father. He doesn’t even know what it was later. The friend let him borrow some of his own clothes and lets him shower before he goes home. But he knows he never will tell anybody about what really happened.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three: London, 31st October 2018.

Louis comes to on the floor, he must have passed out. The others are hovering about, clearly concerned about him. He knows he owes them an explanation. He tells them of the events of Halloween, seven years ago.

Needless to say they are shocked. He tells them that he went to a shrink and took anti-depressants for years. And that his best friends Stan and Olli are the only ones who are still with them. ‘The other two boys are still missing, and if we were just talking to one of them, we have to assume he is dead.’ 

The others are beyond pale now. 

‘We need a drink,’ Harry decides and comes back with a bottle of whiskey.

It reminds Louis of the drink the man in the black robe gave him that night. But he drinks it anyway and after multiple shots of it and some other drinks as well. They all pass out on the sofa and chairs in Harry’s living room.

Afterwards when the others are asleep, he decides to talk to Logan again. 

He calls for Logan and the spirit comes and he persuades him to come back for him and Finley.  
‘I don't like it where we are. You are the only one who can set us free.  
‘So Finlay is with you then?’  
‘Yes he is. We belong to Salpsan now. He makes us go out and hunt for other souls. Please you have to come and set us free.’

He goes back to Doncaster in his car, takes a shovel and a flashlight with him, determined to find the remains of his friends.

He parks his car on the same street he was trick-or-treating thirteen years ago. But this time there are no people about. And hardly any lights are on in the houses. They all must have gone to bed already. Maybe it is for the best. Armed with the flashlight and the shovel he goes back to the place where it all began.

He goes through the gate and walks up to the house, which is also dark. The festivities must have come to a close here also. Did they sacrifice young boys here this time?  
He has been looking on the internet for years for boys who disappeared on Halloween. But he didn’t find any reports on it. He knows that doesn’t necessarily mean that no boys went miss-ing, just that they weren’t any ..  
The cult just might have gotten smarter and hid their tracks better.

He calls for Logan again. ‘You have to tell me where the cemetery is.’  
‘Round the back, there is a path leading into the forest, follow that until you come to a clearing. There it will be.’

There is no moon this night. He thinks he hears wolves howling in the distance. The wind is rustling in the trees. His heart is thudding in his chest. The closer he comes to his destination and the farther he is in the woods, the more scared he becomes. This was such a bad idea.

Then suddenly he is there, in the middle of a graveyard, with tombstones all around him. 

Suddenly he hears a female voice next to his ear. ‘You shouldn’t have come! I told you to stay away!' When Louis turns round she is standing there, the woman who helped him escape. Or rather the ghost of her is standing there. Translucent and in the exact same clothes she wore that night.  
‘You’re dead?’ He asks with a tremor in his voice.  
‘Yeah, they killed me just after they found out you escaped. They were furious.’  
‘Oh, love I am so sorry. I didn’t know.’  
‘It wasn’t your fault. I made peace with it. Still you should not have come. There are others here who still want your soul. Please just leave.’

‘Too late for that now.’ Louis goes rigid when he hears the voice of the man who has been haunting his nightmares for the last thirteen years. 

‘Ah, I see you recognise me. I am so glad you came back even though I like my boys a lot younger. But I so enjoyed having you, after it became clear you were not so pure as we had anticipated. But your young milky white skin turned red so easily under my hands and your body opened up so nicely when I entered you and the sounds you were making I savour those still today.’

Louis feels sick as he has his worst fears acknowledged. 

‘You raped me.’

‘Yes, but I wasn’t the only one. I was generous and shared you. But you were a naughty boy and ran away. And you lived while your two friends died. You saw one of them, maybe you should see what we did to them.’

‘Enough.’ The two ghosts disappear into thin air when the hears the booming voice of another creature. Louis is shaking when he turns round and sees the figure of the statue. The ugly black winged creature the man called Salpsan.

‘Yes, Louis it is me, Salpsan. I am afraid I used your two dead friends to lure you to me. I used your dead friend to get you here. Your soul belongs to me. I needed virgins you weren’t one. You got away once but not again.’

Salpsan makes a deal with him that if he can have Louis’ soul he will let him know where the remains of his two friends are. 

Louis thinks about his father, sister and friends and about the parents of Finlay and Logan and that they need closure. 

So he tells Salpsan his decision and he points to a lone standing tree, and Louis starts to dig at the bottom of it. 

And finds the remains of his two friends both dressed in the black robes he last saw Logan in. 

Next thing he knows is seeing his body hanging lifeless from one of the branches of the tree. He thinks he is going to be dragged off to hell, but that doesn't happen. 

Salpsan doesn't get his soul but he doesn't go into the light either. 

Instead he sees his own funeral and is forced to watch his loved ones live their lives without him. Doomed to be alone, no longer able to play any part in their lives.

Epilogue: October 2023

‘You did the right thing.’ Eleanor is standing up to stretch her legs as if she still has a corporeal body. ‘You should have gone into the light. So why are you still here?’ 

‘Well, that’s the one million pound question isn't it, love?’ Louis answers also standing up. ‘But what happened to you?’

‘Oh, nothing so spectacular as the story you just told me.’ Eleanor is walking towards to gate surrounding the cemetery. ‘Actually I just don’t know how I died. One moment I was living my life the next I was in a funeral parlour, looking down on my one body.’

‘So we both have something to figure out,’ says Louis trying to catch up with her. ‘Me, why I am still here and you have to find out what happened to you.’

‘ I guess. Maybe I should start at the funeral parlour, maybe it will jock my memory. What about you?’

‘Well, I know it’s not about my family. I visit them all the time and even though they had a hard time, they have moved on.’

‘So, you said you had friends, that night with the Ouija board. Do you know what happened to them, after the last time you saw them? Maybe they aren’t as happy as you thought they were?’

‘Yes, maybe you are right. In any case it's worth a shot.’

‘So then we start by finding out what happened to them!’

‘We?’ Louis wonders, as they are now at the closed gate at the entrance of their cemetery.

‘Yes, we. I can use some excitement. It’s dead boring sitting around here, you know.’ She says disappearing through the wrought iron gate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear reader you made it to the end. Thanks for reading my humble attempt at a horror story for Halloween.
> 
> Please let me know what you think of it. And leave kudos if you like it.
> 
> And who knows maybe will I write an other story about Ghost!Louis.


End file.
